When I was fresh and new to Munich, I did some art work for the MH3: the Munich Hash House Harriers. This jolly, irreverent, sociable bunch of really nice people, describe themselves as “a drinking club with a running problem.”

Anyway, they needed a T-shirt design for their 2003 Oktoberfest Run Extravaganza Blowout Event. After I finished the T-shirt, I decided to try a redesign their logo too…

Research Your Subject <snicker>

Munich was founded by beer-brewing monks (cool!) In fact, München, as it is called in German, actually means “of the monks”.

Clearly, there’s not much thought required to come up with a subject for a Munich-based, drinking/running club’s logo.

So one sunny day, I rode my bike down to San Francisco Coffee Company on Odeonsplatz. Ordered myself a cold, ice-blended coffee drink, found a seat outside, and got to sketching.

The Fascinating Production Process

Well, Mr. Running Monk turned out a bit dark and scary. I think he has too much detail for a logo. But let’s have a look anyway:

I do however like how the mass (stein) turned out. The rope belt is OK, and the stubbly, hairy knees showing above the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar athletic socks are mildly amusing.

Since the sketch was done in stark black-and-white, with pen-and-ink, it was easy to scan and fill with color using Adobe Photoshop:

Now he’s getting more realistic and really creepy! Interesting perhaps, but not very logo-like.

Now that I had a colored version of our running, slurping monk, I was able to import him into an Adobe Illustrator file of the original logo, and swap out the subject:

The original MH3 logo is much more cartoon-ish than this one.

It is silly in a way that I don’t particularly like, but it is happy and much more logo-like.

My version, on the other hand, is dark and menacing, and would be more suited to an HHH club that was really, really into the running part. I.e.: a running club with a drinking problem.

Besides, I don’t think you could run with a mass held to your lips without bloodying yourself and knocking out a few teeth.

Oh, and by the way, the “Hash” in Hash House Harriers has nothing to do with hashish. The history of the world-wide phenomenon is quite interesting. If you’ve got a few more minutes, check it out here.